Generous Customer Leaves Behind $16,000 Tip, Ordered Some Hotdogs, Chips, Drinks

What a time to be a waiter. A generous customer left behind a $16,000 tip after ordering a few hot dogs, chips, and drinks.

It was just like any other day at the New Hampshire eatery when the anonymous customer came in, sat at the bar, and ordered two hot dogs, some chips, a coke, a beer, and a shot of tequila.

His final tab was $37, an amount significantly below his tip of $16,000, CNN reported.

“Don’t spend it all in one place,” the customer joked to the bartender, according to Mike Zarella, the owner of Stumble Inn Bar & Grill in Londonderry.

At first, the bartender didn’t notice the tip, but the customer—who asked to remain anonymous—made a couple of hints for her to take a look.

“When she looked down, she was just absolutely shocked. She was like, ‘Oh, my God, no that’s just crazy,'” Zarella told CNN. “The girls went over to him and thanked him. They are overjoyed.”

It’s been over a week since the blessing came, but Zarella didn’t want to share the story because he wanted to see if the payment would actually go through first.

Once it hit, he shared the kind act on Facebook. He also got a chance to speak to the customer, who has since come back on a regular basis.

“I went over and sat with him, and I thanked him and told him, ‘Are you sure? Because we’re uncomfortable with this amount of money,'” Zarella said. “If he had made a mistake and asked for it back, we would have given it back, but he said, ‘No, I want them to have that money.'”

Zarella did not keep any of the tip.

The eight bartenders chose to share their blessings with the four people working the kitchen. Many of the bartenders, which include some single mothers, say they would be using their shares to take summer vacations they couldn’t otherwise afford.

“We’ve been getting killed on social media lately, but pool tipping is common in certain restaurants and it works for us,” Zarella said. “It doesn’t matter how big the tip is; they still share it with everyone working that shift.

“In the end, this is just a happy story and we are grateful for his generosity.”